SECOND DEGREE: Sex Education

Some female graduateSome female graduatestudents are uncomfortableSome female graduatestudents are uncomfortablein post-graduate learningSome female graduatestudents are uncomfortablein post-graduate learningenvironments. Women are not performing as well as men academically at the Law School, according to a recent study by Law School Professor Lani Guinier. But, is this the case in all of the University's graduate schools? Because similar studies have yet to be conducted at other graduate schools, such an obvious gender gap is not as starkly apparent. However, many female students say they too feel uncomfortable and marginalized by their lack of representation in some graduate divisions. Deans can only speculate and begin investigating problems within their individual schools. Although the Guinier study raises questions of gender, each graduate school has created its own environment for higher education which can be either conducive or detrimental to women's education. Women have traditionally gravitated to the graduate programs in humanities and social sciences while more men entered graduate programs in the hard sciences, according to Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dean Walter Licht. "There is one other first year female in the math program with me," first year Mathematics graduate student Rachel Pries said. "I'm very glad she's there. I wouldn't want to be the only female there." Many have complained that there also is not enough mentoring directed towards female students as undergraduates in the hard sciences. "I think more women drop out in the undergraduate level because they aren't encouraged to continue," Pries said. Within hard science schools such as medical and engineering schools, women often feel intimidated by male professors and the amount of coursework that must be completed. Medical students also have a stringent curriculum, with two years of formal classes followed by two years of clinical rotations in which a licensed physician evaluates them personally. Because of the individualized attention given to students in the University's School of Medicine, an uncomfortable environment exists for many students -- particularly women. "I know some people who had experiences with certain professors or physicians where female students had felt put out and in awkward situations," third year medical student Celeste Heckman said. And fourth year medical student Amy Schlernitzauer said the grades given to students during rotations tend to be very subjective. "People, especially women, have a difficult time knowing how much they should stand up for themselves because of their unsureness of someone's ability to separate their professional feelings from their personal feelings towards the students," she said. In the Engineering School, doctoral students attend one year of formal classes and then spend the rest of their time in the field conducting research. As a result, most of the evaluation of the student's performance is based on their field work and is not affected by a person's gender. But in certain graduate programs such as the Nursing School and the School of Social Work, women outnumber the men in each graduating class. About 75 to 80 percent of the Social Work students are female. First year student Stephen Pitts said he is quite comfortable being in the minority. "I actually feel very comfortable at the school although the population is mostly female," Pitts said. "But the faculty isn't representative of the student body." The Nursing School has similar student body composition with only 10 percent male representation, according to Nursing Director of Graduate Studies Joan Lynaugh. Since women are not in the minority at these schools, the learning environment is more comfortable for them. "In my class, there are only two men out of 37 people," Nursing junior Alicia Puppione said. As part of the Bachelor's of Nursing/Master's of Nursing program, Puppione will receive both a master's and bachelor's degree upon graduation. But when the student body is kept to a small size of 30 people in each graduating class, as it is in the Annenberg School for Communication, gender issues are not as evident. Annenberg has developed a highly selective program that offers intensive education and research possibilities to its students. "Regardless of gender, there is no difference in our graduates job placement," Annenberg Dean Kathleen Jamieson said. Within the School of Dental Medicine, the gender breakdown of the student population is close to 50-50. But in academic performance, the top 10 students of each class include only an average of three women. "It's not like the women are trailing behind the men," Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs Ellen Bateman said. "If you look at the upper half of each class, it is equally divided by men and women." The Law School differs from other higher education programs because it admits students from all undergraduate majors, humanities as well as hard sciences. According to Law School Dean Colin Diver, the academic gap between male and female law students is a differential of one grade. For example, if a female received all Bs in her courses, a male would receive all Bs and one A. This phenomenon does not exist only at the University's Law School but also at law schools across the nation. A national study has just been released by the Law School Admission Council that supports Guinier's conclusions. According to third year law student Elana Scherzer, first year students tend to be overly concerned with grades because job interviews at the On-Campus Recruiting Services are held in fall of the second year. "All you have to show is your first year grades in the first interview," Scherzer said. "Ideally, you would work for a summer at a firm and they would offer you a job part way through your third year." The Law School uses a grading system that rates students with E, excellent, G, good, and Q, qualified. About 20 percent of the students receive Es, 40 percent Gs and 40 percent Qs. Because of this system, some male students try to take classes with more women because they believe that they would receive a higher grade since the women would fulfill the "Q quota," Guinier said. "The competitive, hierarchical format of the Law School's dominant pedagogy is also used by peers to put down some women," the Guinier study stated in the University Of Pennsylvania Law Review. This hierarchy creates a stressful and hostile learning environment for female students, the article added. Diver has commissioned a follow-up study that will be conducted by a committee headed by Heidi Hurd, associate dean of academic affairs at the Law School. The study will examine the system of legal education currently used at the Law School. According to the study, the current phenomenon is perpetuated by the schools and the firms that hire the law students. "The problem lies in the system of evaluation in law schools, which functions to rank students on a hierarchy that prospective employers then use to choose who they will actually train to be a lawyer," the article stated. In response to the Guinier study, SEAS Dean Gregory Farrington plans to conduct his own study with engineering doctoral students. "I intend to ask Associate Dean Dwight Jaggard to meet with the women graduate students to talk with them," Farrington said. "I haven't been aware that women here have any problems but if they have, I'd like to know about it."